


When Ships Switch

by drowninginchamomiletea



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-08-11
Packaged: 2018-02-12 10:44:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 5,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2106813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drowninginchamomiletea/pseuds/drowninginchamomiletea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I changed the title caiuse I got super confused while writing the thing. It's an oc fic; I originally meant for it to be Kana/Aron but the halfway through I decided I liked Kana/Karr more and then it just turned into a beautiful mess with my precious babbys in it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

   Kana and Karr have nothing in common.

   Kana is a skinny, pale 13 year old with dark, shoulder-length, hellishly messy hair and a cool, blue-eyed face covered with freckles. She hates all sports except for Quidditch, which sucks because there are no minor league teams within 100 miles of her house. She plays the drums, and thinks she's pretty much the most badass person ever, except for maybe her best and only friend Ashe, whom she met online. She definitely has a shell that she doesn't like to come out of. However, once she does, she is very outgoing and opinionated.

   Karr is an average size, tan 13 year old with warm brown, medium-short, wavy hair and a smiling, warm face with brown eyes. He loves making people smile and laugh, but finds it difficult to navigate social situations in which he cannot make this happen. He plays the clarinet and loves sitting outside shops and playing for employees and customers. They only have two things in common: 1) They go to the same school and 2) They're the same age. Karr has never noticed Kana, and Kana has noticed Karr but doesn't give a shit about the popular goof who plays old school video games.

   But enough about them, let's begin, shall we?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeh I know it starts as Kana/Aron but it starts to get worse/better later idk *shoosh pap*
> 
> Yes Kana you are my bby and I luv you

   Yeah. The frick are you looking at, kid? I'm wearing my favorite, really soft, kinda thin jacket. It has a hood, but it doesn't do much for the cold. It just keeps the rain out. But I'm good with that. I've lived here my whole life, so I can deal with the cold.

   Some kid who's pretty popular at school... Aron, I think his name is? Anyway, he's standing there loitering twenty or thirty feet away from me. I pull my hood down a little farther over my face, just to make sure he doesn't recognize me. I don't like talking to people. Never have. Never will. Actually, I'm not a huge fan of people in general. Except for Ashe. She's okay. I stand there, leaning against a pillar, bright red headphones blasting English Vocaloid covers.

   I actually think my parents are the only people who have ever seen my face. Well, them and my adoptive sister/mother. My parents died in a terrorist suicide bombing when I was small. No joke. I barely escaped. Another reason I don't like talking to people- they always ask about the huge, ugly scar on my right cheek. A piece of 500 degree metal debris sliced right through my cheek in the bombing. Now I have a horrible scar. Then some 19 year old who had lost her way in the world in a similar way came along and adopted 3 year old me. That was Mana. She can be kind of weird sometimes. But she's still really nice and keeps us fed and sheltered and keeps me in school.

   Shit!! That kid is walking up to me. I tug on my hood again. Ugh. I hate dealing with the curious ones.

   "Hi. I was just wondering, uh... Why do you have your hood up? It's about sixty degrees out here. That's not really hood weather."

   "Fuck off," I say, in an obvious 'if-you-so-much-as-look-at-me-I-will-rearrange-your-face-Picasso-style' sort of voice.

   His startled expression pleases me. I love it when that one scares them.

   "Er..." He's visibly struggling for something to say. He obviously isn't used to being the one directing the conversation.

   I flash my scar just to shock him with my badassery. "Now _don't_  bother me again." I then sweep off on a draft of mysterious awesomeness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moving on to Aron...

   I'm left a bit shocked after that particular encounter. Actually, my first thought was about where the heck someone like that goes to school. And that scar... Where do you _get_  that bad of a cut!? It looked like she was in a bombing or something. Still standing there, I watch her disappear behind the increasing curtains of rain. I really should get home. I hate humid weather. But I also hate home... Usually it's the ground that's wet, not the air... but today's so warm. At least, warm enough for it to be weird when it rains this hard.

   There's a huge _BOOM_  and a flash. Wow. This is _definitely_ unusual weather. Maybe it's just an early summer storm...? But it's still April! Eh... whatever. Maybe I'll just camp out at Karr's condo till this one blows over. It's right across the street.

   Getting to Karr's place is equivalent to fighting a war with the wind and rain. By the time I get to the lobby I feel like I just climbed out of a swimming pool. Judging by the look on the receptionist's face, I look it, too.

   "Hi," I say, as casually as possible, "I'm a friend of the people in room 413. I thought I'd just camp out there till this storm blows over." I can hear the _drip drip_ of water coming off of me over the quiet background music. The receptionist nods.

   I trudge over to the elevator and jab at the button with the little black "4" on it. Once it dings, I get out and drip my way over to Karr's door. "Karr," I say into the door, "it's me!" "Yeah, hang on! Coming," a muffled voice answers. He's clattering around hastily, presumably to clear out a safe path to the living room.

   "Damn," he says as he opens the door, "how hard _is_  it raining out there?" "Pretty hard. I met this weird girl outside the liscencing center," I respond, "but could I please _come in_  before I tell the whole thrilling tale? And do you have a towel? As you can see, I'm soaking."

"Sure."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now we introduce Ashe, plus a revelation for Kana.

    _Shit_  is it raining hard. That kid better hope he's got somewhere good to shelter. This looks like it'll turn into a full-blown thunderstorm. Once I get back to Mana's inexplicably huge and expensive house and get into the little lobby where we (theoretically) put our shoes, I take off my coat. I'm tired. I also need to find a way to waterproof my jeans. I guess I really should take off my shoes.

   "Hey! I'm home!" I shout.

   "Am I ever going to learn what on earth you spend your time doing every Friday afternoon!?"

   "Magic 8 Ball says no!"

   "Whatever! I'll find out eventually, you know!"

   "No you won't," I reply, laughing. Then I stop abruptly and glance outside. I hope the neighbors didn't hear me. I leap up the stairs and race myself to my also inexplicably huge observatory-made-bedroom. I slam the door just in time to hear Ashe pinging me.

 

 

Kana: Answer chum.

AT: kany

AT: kaaaaaanyyyy

AT: kanykanykanykanykanykanyyyykanykanykanykanykanykanyyyy

AT: answer meee

SA: Hi!

SA: I just had a dangerously close social encounter.

AT: with who

SA: You mean "whom."

SA: With the popular jock that goes to my school. Even though I never talk to anyone there.

AT: what the frick does a jock want

SA: Popularity and abs.

SA: But anyway, he just asked me why I had my hood up, got shocked with like 1,000,000 volts by scar-san, and got blasted by one of my famous dramatic exits.

SA: Man but it is raining so hard out there right now

AT: yeah, here too.

SA: Where _do_ you live, anyway? We always seem to have exactly the same weather...

SA: Wait. Wait just a half-fucking-second.

SA: That was you.

AT: :?

SA: Last Friday. That random girl who flipped me off from across the street. That was you.

AT: .

AT: ..

AT: ...

AT: ....

AT: .....

AT: ......

AT: .......

AT: MAAAYYYYBEEEEEEE.................

SA: OH MY FUCKING GOSH. THAT WAS YOU. I THOUGHT YOU WERE JOKING WHEN YOU SAID THAT IF WE EVER MET IRL, THE FIRST THING YOU'D DO WAS FLIP ME OFF.

AT: WELP LOOKS LIKE IVE GOTTA GO BYE

ashenTrickster [AT] ceased pestering stormyApocalypse [SA].

SA: YOU SLIPPERY LITTLE MOTHERFUCKER!! DON'T YOU DARE~ fuck you're already gone anyway what's the point.

 

Kana: What. The frick.

   You are now flipping the frick out. Ashe has been living in your tiny town all along and you never noticed. You know this fricking place like the back of your fricking hand and you never fricking noticed that your best fricking friend was fricking living within 5 fricking miles of your fricking house. Now you just have to figure out exactly which of the 10,000 people here is her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE CHASE!! DUN-DUN-DUNNNN!!!!!!!!!

   "I've been here for almost four hours! When is it going to stop raining!?" I moan, staring at the drizzling sky out the window.

   "It really is some pretty boring shit, isn't it," Karr replies, limp with boredom. Just as I'm about to wonder aloud when it'll stop storming enough for me to walk home, I see something outside that drives the thought and my boredom right out of my head-- none other than Scar Girl running through the rain, towards the exit road.

   "I'VE GOTTA GO," I shout, leaping up and grabbing my coat. I bolt out the door without even bothering to close it, leaving Karr sitting openmouthed. Clattering down the stairs, I throw on my coat and jump out the front door. I pause, looking around frantically in the downpour. Spotting her back disappearing down the exit road, I sprint after her, with Karr hanging out his window behind me, yelling, "WHAT THE _FUCK_ DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

   "BYE, KARR," I yell back.

   Damn, she's fast. I'm about to shout after her, but then think twice. She'll know I'm following her. And then she'll run faster. We both run silently, with just the soft _shlit shlit_  of running feet on the wet ground and the _shhhaaaaaaa_ of falling rain and driving wind through the trees.

   She's slowing down. Along with her, I do, too. She seems to be wearing a headset, because she says, "Ashe, you better fucking know that I'm on my way. I'm about ninety-nine percent sure I know where you live." She then starts jogging along at a more measured pace, which I match.

   I suddenly feel the impulse to yell out. "Hey! Who are you!?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Btw, you pronounce Ashe's name A-shee, not ash. Also, the next few chapters are where friends meet and strange social occurrences occur.

Fuck. Not him again. Time to really deal with him. I shake my head a little, annoyed, brush my hood off my face, and turn to face him.


	7. Chapter 7

   She turns, with her hood off, to face me. She is finally revealed to have a thin, almost undernourished appearance and finely carved features, and her expression is very angry. That scar is twisted into the shape of a winding river.

   "Why. The _fuck_. Are you following me."

   "I want to know who you are!"

   "Some good fucking reason! Sorry! _BZZT!_  Wrong answer! Come back _another fucking day._ "

   "Just tell me."

   In a brutally sarcastic tone, she shrieks, "OH! HA HA! Okay, let's play that little game! I'm you're subconscious, and you'd better get out of my line of sight fast, or you're OUT OF LUCK, BUSTER. Or, maybe I'm just that one person at school! That one orphan girl who gets straight A's, always hides her face, and that nobody _quite_ manages to notice!! I hope you get my gist now, jocky boy, cause if you do, you'll _leave me alone!!_ " She then spins around, pulls her hood up, and runs down the road and out of sight.

   Still standing there in the rain, I stare at the point where she disappeared. I've never met someone that explosive... Or angry. What even _happens_ to make a person that hypersensitive?


	8. Chapter 8

   Still shaking and burning with fury, I sprint down the road, almost destroying the gravel side road as I dash down it, towards the only place she could possibly live, and come upon... A shabby house that look scruffy, as if no one really cared much for it. No. Fuck. I can't go in there like this.

   I look around furtively and duck behind a suitable tree, catching my breath. I don't need to be angry at two people at once and have a nervous breakdown. Peeking out from behind my tree, I see a dark-haired, pale-skinned girl glance out the window. That must be her. She pesters me again.

 

AT: kany! please dont knock on the door!

SA: Why shouldn't I? Do I really care at the moment?

SA: No. I take that back.

 

_I'm not a mean person._

 

SA: I can see you in the window.

 

   She glances outside. Sees me. Appears to have a minor seizure. Gets up. Scrambles to get shoes on. Slips out the door. I see her on the porch.

   She comes toward me. We start to walk.

   "Okay. I'm sorry. But really... There's still so much to talk about."

   " _I'm_ sorry. I should have told you sooner. I guess you needed a flesh and blood friend and not just a collection of pixels."

   "...Yeah." Companionable silences are nice, if occasionally a bit awkward. "It feels like I'm meeting you all over again."

   "I know."

   "But there's this huge white elephant... And I'm like, 'dat elephant, aauaugh'. Seriously, it's like... Just _what_."

   "...Hm." Some slight giggling.

   "Dat elephant...!"

   "Dat elephant, though!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This fic is just deteriorating with each chapter >n

   Still standing there and looking at the spot where she disappeared, I'm thinking. That's the state I'm in when I hear... Two girls laughing. _What?_ No. That couldn't _possibly_  be... Scar Girl. Plus one. Stumbling along, close to being in hysterics. For a second I'm amazed that she's actually capable of laughing. Wait. _Fuuuuu--_  I have to get out of sight!! I duck behind a tree and wait for them to pass.


	10. Chapter 10

   Wait. What was that sound? I abruptly stop laughing and prick up like a rabbit who heard a cat.

   "Wait." Ashe stops and I walk quietly forwards, to where I heard a twig snap.


	11. Chapter 11

   Maybe I should just come out. She'll find me anyway.


	12. Chapter 12

   "Maybe you should just come out! I've found you anyway, there's no point hiding!"


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> D: Please try to enjoy this thing before I die from the embarrassment of how bad it is

   Yup. She knows. And I'm an idiot.

   "Fine." Her hood is down, her sleeves are rolled up and her hair is pulled back in a ponytail. She looks annoyed. Very, very annoyed.

   "Is there _anything_  I could say that would get you to tell me why you're stalking me? Because I am fully capable of convincing you by... Other methods." I really, _really_ don't want to find out what "other methods" are. Just, you know, because of the unsettlingly well toned arms and violent temper. 

   "I still don't understand what the most popular, airheaded kid in the school could _possibly_  want with the invisible ghost who gets straight A's." 

   "I..." Why _was_  I pursuing her? 

   "..." 

   "You're a lonely person." I don't ask her. It's a statement. "You need a friend. Better yet, a few. I... I personally haven't felt like I've had any true friends lately. They all feel... Fake. Like accessories that attached themselves to me. So, I guess... I kind of felt like we were in the same boat." I'm speaking quietly by now, staring at a dead leaf on the ground. 

   The wind swirls and whistles for a few otherwise silent minutes, during which Scar Girl stares at me with a blank face and her mouth slightly open. 

   Suddenly, before I know what's happening, she's flying at me and squeezing the life out of me in a huge hug, which is made no more comfortable when I realize that she's crying. 

   "...Th-Thank you. Thank you so much."


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THANK GOD ITS GETTING BETTER

   I sit in my room about a week later, going through all the music I've ever made. I finally come across one of the more recent ones, a ballad called 'Waters'. I guess I can indulge in a flashback to a few weeks ago...

 

Yesterday is tomorrow

Filled with still, stagnant waters

Pools of pain

Where there should be a rushing river

There's a puddle of standing water

Deeper than the deepest ocean

A pit of suffering

 

Here I lie

Asleep, awake, who knows?

I'm

Hiding out alone

I am hiding out alone

In the waters...

The waters

Of the blackest depths of my heart.

 

Dripping from my bowed forehead

Is a slimy, biting trail

Of words I've been burned by it, scorched by it, scraped by it, sliced by it

And I've

Hurt with it, scared with it, used it as a shell

From the other words, the stabbing words

That surround me

 

Here I lie

Asleep, dead, who knows?

I'm

Bleeding out alone

I am bleeding out alone

In the waters...

The waters

Of the blackest depths of my heart

 

(Here I lie)

(Heaven-sent or damned, who knows?)

(I'm)

(Crying out alone)

(I am crying out alone)

(To the waters...)

(For grace to touch my soul...)

 

   It's really strange, listening to my own voice expressing all the pain I felt. I remember I got all choked up around the end of recording, held it back until I'd finished, pressed the 'Stop Recording' button, and burst into tears.

   I suddenly feel a strange surge of anger and, without really thinking, delete the file. I sigh and push back from my desk. I shouldn't be inside so much. I'll just... go for a walk.

   I put on my jacket (hood up) and shoes, stick my phone in my jeans pocket, and grab my MP3 player and headphones. Checking that I still have my ever-present lanyard (holding a key to Mana's house, my library card, and steel knuckles disguised as a cat-shaped charm, among other things) on as I jog downstairs, I yell, "I'm going running! I'll be back by sunset!"

   Mana shouts something back from the other end of the house, which I assume to be assent. I sprint down the steep driveway just to feel the thrill of the wind against me and gravity pulling me forwards. I think I'll just go around the Riverside Loop Trail... That goes around by Ashe's house. I can pick her up there.

   Since the little... _incident_  last week, I haven't seen Aron. Probably because I'm trying my best to avoid him.

   I jog into the forest and find the trail by the river. I slow down to a walk and sing to a few of my more light hearted musical creations as I go. I did the drumming in this one... I really should practice more often, I guess.

   Turning a bend in the trail, I start to hear angry shouting and sounds of doors being slammed through my headphones. Pausing my music and lowering the headphones to rest on my neck, I curiously move forwards a few more paces. I soon come within view of a little house that I've never really noticed before. Listening more closely, it sounds like a man, a woman, and a teenage boy are yelling at each other.

   "MAYBE IT'S TIME THAT YOU JUST _LEAVE_  IF YOU'RE SO UNHAPPY HERE!"

   "MAYBE IT _IS!_ "

   "COULD YOU TWO JUST SHUT THE _FUCK_  UP AND STOP JUMPING DOWN EACH OTHER'S THROATS FOR _FIVE SECONDS!?_ "

   "STAY OUY OF IT, YOU LITTLE BRAT! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU WOULD EVEN UNDERSTAND THE _PROBLEM_  HERE!"

   "OKAY, IF THAT'S HOW YOU FEEL, THEN WHY DON'T _I_  JUST LEAVE!?"

   "I CAN'T SAY I HAVE ANY OBJECTIONS!"

   "FOR ONCE I HAVE TO AGREE WITH YOUR MOTHER! GET AWAY AND LEAVE US ALONE!"

   " _FINE!!!_ "

   "DON'T TRY TO HUMOR HIM THAT WE AGREE ON THINGS!"

   "I _WASN'T!_  I JUST SO _HAPPENED_  TO HAVE THE SAME OPINION AS YOU!"

   As the shouting continues, a boy of about my age comes sprinting angrily onto the trail and running ahead on it, eventually slowing to a walk. A boy who looks a lot like... _Aron??_  Jogging ahead until I reach him, I tap him on the shoulder. "Aron?"

   He starts in surprise, spins around, takes a swing at me (which I dodge), and yells, "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" He goes sprinting up the trail faster than I've seen anyone ever go, obviously making sure to kick rocks and dust up in my face.

   Woah. I mean, I knew the kid could yell, but _geez._  And I knew he could throw a punch, but _fuck._  I _didn't_  know that he had a temper. Much less a temper to rival even mine.

   I start to jog again, this time turning on some slightly more energetic and moody music. What the heck just happened? Did I trigger him or something? Or was he just angry? Well, he was obviously mad, but that outburst was _way_  beyond just anger. Beyond fury. More like... Man, I don't even think there's a strong enough word for that. It couldn't have just been from judgment clouded by anger.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karr! Who for some reason I am currently crushing on

   I am _so_  bored. I should go outside. I grab some shoes and do so. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I stroll nonchalantly down the main street of Crossingspath--my town. The sun finally seems to decide that it wants to come out and peeks around a cloud, flushing the wet little town with a much-needed downpour of light. My already tan skin seems to tingle with relief in the warmth after so many weeks of cloud and rain.

   But something feels off... Oh no. Oh no, no, noooo! _Fuck!_  Not again! Aron! Fuck you and your mood swings! Now I get to be worried sick for the next month! Urgh!

   I facepalm as a pretty cute girl wearing red headphones and a thin jacket with a lanyard around her neck walks by. Hey...! Isn't that the girl Aron went chasing after last week...? I double back and call out, "Hey!" She doesn't respond. I try again. "Hi. I was wondering..." Still nothing.

   I can hear her music through the headphones (She listens to _Vocaloid?_ Damn _bad taste_. Geez). _Ohh_. She can't hear me. I tap her on the shoulder.

   She shows no signs of surprise or physical reactions to my touch, but merely casually pulls down her hood and headphones and pauses her music, all without even slowing her pace or looking at me.

   "Yes?"

   "I was wondering if you knew someone named Aron," I say, panting slightly trying to keep up with her pace, which is much faster than my casual stride.

   "There's probably a hundred Arons in this town."

   Uh...

   "Yeah, but do you _know_  any?"

   "I know almost everyone here. Small town," she says matter-of-factly.

   I don't want to say touché quite yet... But...

   "You don't know me."

   "I did say _almost_  everyone, didn't I?"

   ...touché.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kana laughing and smirking and actually showing an emotion that isn't anger  
> I think Karr has a good effect on her

   I'm laughing _so hard_  inside right now. I am _so_ crushing this kid! Hahah, he has no idea how to respond! But maybe I should be nice and answer him properly. He seems like a nice kid...

   I snicker a little out loud and brush my hood down all the way.

   "Okay, okay, I'll stop messing with you. I'm Kana," I say, smiling and holding out my hand. Looking a little disconcerted, but still friendly, he shakes my hand and says,

   "Karr."

   "I actually do know an Aron, though. We have kind of an awkward history," I say shamelessly, chuckling a little again. Karr looks encouraged. This could actually turn out to be the start of a half-decent friendship...


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yay things are happening

   Two months later, I am (amazingly!) socially happy! Except... Well... There is one little thing... I guess it's not exactly _bad_ , persay, but... Well... I'm honestly not sure what it is. I've never really felt this way before. It has to do with... With Karr. I... I _really_ don't know what this is.

   We're great friends, the four of us; me, Ashe, Aron, and Karr. Especially Karr and I. But lately... My heart jumps whenever our hands brush against each other, my skin tingles when we lay there under the sky when I drag him along to go stargazing, my arm hair stands on end whenever he holds open a door and jokingly bows and says something dumb like, "ladies first" or "here, milady"... I don't understand it! I really don't.

   It's a beautiful, warm, sunny, green summer, and this year I've decided to shed my social shell for the season. I'm wearing my shorts and tank tops, taking my walks and runs in town, and saying hello to passerby on the street. The first time my friends saw me in my summer clothes, Aron wolf whistled and then cracked up, Ashe just looked kinda surprised, and Karr didn't recognize me until I got within 10 feet of them. I blushed bright red and sat down the moment I had nearly run the last five feet.

   I guess even I never really realized how much of a figure I'd developed in my years as an XL-sweatshirt-wearing introvert. I have wide hips, long and slender arms and legs, and I must admit that I actually have gotten pretty busty. I wear my hair in a ponytail now, and I've been wearing my blue sunglasses as well.

   "Hey! Throw me that ball!"

   "Heads up, Johnson! One dodgeball, coming right up!" I throw the ball right at Aron's face.

   "Heyy, no fair!" We're all hanging out at the park, playing two on two dodgeball. It's been a couple of hours, and we're hot, sweaty, and having the time of our lives.

   Collapsing in the shade of a maple tree with the others, I take a long drink of water and lay on my back, watching the leaves above me swaying and glowing green in the breeze and sun, utterly relaxed and just happy to be with my friends.

   "Hello, Kealan, earth to Kealan?"

   "Yeah?" I roll onto my side to face Karr (the little mellow-harshing rascal), propping up my head with one arm. He glances a little nervously over to Aron, who nods almost imperceptibly and asks Ashe for a game of tennis. Once they're out of earshot, he says, still nervously, "So, um... You know how the summer festival and firework dance is in a couple of weeks?"

   "Yeah..." I say slowly, not daring to hope that he's about to say what I think he is.

   "Well, um, we were going to hang out together at the festival, so I thought..." He seems to be screwing up all his courage; he actually closes his eyes up tight. He takes in a deep breath and lets it out by saying very quickly and clumsily, "Willyougotothedancewithme?" He peeks open his eyes a little. My eyes, on the other hand, are wide open, staring at him as though demanding an explanation for my dream suddenly coming true. He looks horrified at my silence.

   "If-- If you don't want to, that's fine! I just... Thought I'd ask..." I suddenly regain the ability to breathe. Gasping in air, I almost screech,

   "Do I _want_ to!? I've been wanting to for more than a month!!" Then I tackle him in a hug. Because I totally have amazing social skills.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the Firework Dance and the end of the story

   Karr and I had a great time at Summer Fest today. Now I'm prepping for tonight. It's a casual/semi-formal dance, plus it's after sundown, so I'm wearing one of my nicer pairs of jeans, black socks, bright red ballet flats, and a pretty black shirt that has bright green, pink, blue, and yellow designs on it--one of the shirts I own that's more flattering to my figure. I put on my lip balm that I recently learned is also the perfect lip tint for me and I brush my hair, put on my lanyard under my shirt, stick my phone in my pocket, and leave my room quietly.

   "I'm leaving! I'll be back by midnight!"

   "Have fun and don't get too frisky! Bye!"

   I close the door behind me and sprint down the drive like I always do. I fast-walk the rest of the way because if I don't I'm going to be late and _damn_  I'm excited!! I see Karr, smiling big and nervous like me, and wave. He manages a small wave back and walks a few steps toward me.

   "You look beautiful," he says, obviously without thinking, because he blushes right along with me.

   "Uhm, thanks..." Still blushing and awkward. We walk quietly together, heading towards Park Square, which is right next to Summer Fest Park, the site of Summer Fest and the Firework Dance. Somewhere along the line, he catches my hand in his and sparks and tingles go up and down my spine and I miss a few breaths.

   We finally arrive at the park, where a side patio made for this very purpose has been set up with tables of water and strawberry lemonade. There's a stereo in the grass playing soft music and ambient lamps dotting the edges of the patio. Every year they manage to get some sort of fireworks that lets off only a soft _phmp_  sound and sparkles like magic around you at the same time. I have no idea where they buy that stuff, but it works.

   Karr taps me on the shoulder. Like usual, I don't jump or start at his touch.

   "Yes?"

   He jokingly says, "I was wondering if you knew someone named Aron." I laugh softly and play along.

   "There's probably a hundred Arons in this town."

   "I was also wondering if you'll dance with me."

   "There's also probably a hundred ways for me to say yes to that question!" Giggling in a sickeningly girlish way, I let him take my other hand and walk me onto the dance floor. He seems nervous when we start to dance and keeps tripping over small stones on the ground. I decide to be brave and take a stab at it.

   "Ah, c'mon, that's not how you slow dance," I laugh quietly, smiling, "nothing's changed! I'm still me! You're still you! It shouldn't be something to be nervous about. We can still dance. Even if we have... Different relationship potential now, we're still the two gangbangers who go and raid the bakery every Friday!" He laughs a little and visibly relaxes. I pull him closer, and soon the fireworks have started and we're just wrapped in each other, swaying and stepping to the music, with the soft popping and sparkling light around us.

   Magical night, magical night... Now just add a kiss and the night will bring delight... Almost just as I think it, Karr leans down a bit and places a very small, very sweet kiss on my lips. Smiling, we both dance on and never want the night to end, but of course it does and he walks me home, kissing me a few more times along the way.

   With one final kiss and a hug and a wave, he walks home himself. I watch him disappear and sigh, lips still tingling. I was definitewly right when I thought that something good might come of knowing him... Something like love.

 

-THE END-

 

A/N: OH MY FRICKING GOSH I ACTUALLY FINISHED A MULTI-CHAPTER FIC

THANK YOU WORLD


End file.
